textfiles-politics/pythonCode/personTestingOutput/corpdem.xml

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<p>Subject: Corporate buyout of <ent type='ORG'>the Democratic Party</ent></p>

<p>******************************
&gt;From the SF Examiner, Monday July 20, 1992.
<ent type='PERSON'>Jeff Cohen</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Norman Solomon</ent> (<ent type='PERSON'>Jeff Cohen</ent> is founder
of <ent type='ORG'>FAIR</ent>, a media watchdog group; <ent type='PERSON'>Norman Solomon</ent> is
a media critic.)</p>

<p>The Takeover of <ent type='ORG'>the Democratic Party</ent></p>

<p> Thousands of journalists covered the <ent type='NORP'>Democratic</ent> National
Convention here. Almost all of them missed the biggest
story.
The story wasn't missed because it happened in the shadows
of in some smoke-filled back room. It was bypassed because of
ideological binders worn by so many in the conformist press.
The big story was the takeover of <ent type='ORG'>the Democratic Party</ent> by
big business.
Of course, <ent type='ORG'>the Democratic Party</ent> has always included hefty
doses of corporate interests. But in past years, they were
one of many competing forces in the party, along with
representatives of labor, minorities, senior citizens, women
and others.
The significance of this convention is that corporate <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>
has taken undisputed control - at least for now - of both major
political parties, not just the <ent type='ORG'>GOP</ent>.
How did so many in the political press corps miss the story?
Most establishment journalists seem blind to the fact that
corporations are thoroughly political institutions, seeking
ever-increasing influence over parties, legislation and government
regulation. (These businesses are, after all, the folks who
underwrite the news with their advertising.)
In political reporting, corporations are treated as benign, neutral,
invisible. Their political maneuvers are generally not news.</p>

<p> It's not that journalists are oblivious to political wheeling and
dealing by various groups. In the days before the convention,
political reporters scrutinized teachers unions, black activists,
senior-citizen groups, feminists, gay-rights advocates - denigrating
them as "special interests'' who could ruin "Clinton's convention''
by "alienating middle-class voters.''
With so much media focus on these relatively powerless grass-roots
groups, powerful corporations - the country's REAL special
interests - ran off with the party.</p>

<p> ITEM: Two days before the convention, a "Victory Train'' carried
congressional <ent type='NORP'>Democrats</ent> from <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> to <ent type='GPE'>New York</ent>. Accompanying
the party elite on the train ride were corporate lobbyists who
paid $10000 to $25000 for the right to mingle and shmooze.
The <ent type='NORP'>Democratic</ent> National Committee has been raking in money from
virtually every corporate interest needing a government
favor. The message to anti-poverty or consumer-rights activists:
No need for you to come on board. You can wait at the station.</p>

<p>ITEM: The <ent type='PERSON'>Clinton</ent>-<ent type='PERSON'>Gore</ent> ticket represents the seizure of the
party hierarchy by the <ent type='NORP'>Democratic</ent> Leadership Council, which
is typically euphemized in the media as a group of
"moderate'' <ent type='NORP'>Democratic</ent> politicians who want the party to
"speak for the middle class.'' (<ent type='PERSON'>Clinton</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Gore</ent> were
founders of the DLC; <ent type='PERSON'>Clinton</ent> was its chair in 1990-91.)
The problem is that the DLC has no middle-class constituents.
It is bankrolled by - and speaks for - corporate <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>:
ARCO, <ent type='ORG'>Dow Chemical</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Georgia Pacific</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Martin Marietta</ent>, the
<ent type='ORG'>Tobacco Institute</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>the Petroleum Institute</ent>, etc.</p>

<p>ITEM: <ent type='PERSON'>Clinton</ent> became the media-designated "front-runner'' in
large part because he raised so much money early in the
campaign. The cash didn't come from middle-class folks.
As reported by the weekly In These Times, most of it
came from conservative business interests; investment
bankers, corporate lobbyists and Wall Street firms which
fund both major political parties.</p>

<p>ITEM: Two of Clinton's key fund-raisers were <ent type='PERSON'>Robert Barry</ent>,
a longtime <ent type='ORG'>General Electric</ent> lobbyist, and <ent type='PERSON'>Thomas</ent> H. <ent type='PERSON'>Boggs</ent>
Jr., who ears $1.5 million a year as a lawyer-lobbyist
for the <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> firm of <ent type='PERSON'>Patton</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Boggs</ent>, and Blow.
<ent type='PERSON'>Boggs</ent>' parents were members of <ent type='ORG'>Congress</ent>; his sister is
media pundit <ent type='PERSON'>Cokie Roberts</ent>. His law firm boasts a computer
program that matches corporate donors with <ent type='ORG'>Congress</ent> members
who seek his help in raising money; a match depends on what
legislation is pending before <ent type='ORG'>Congress</ent>.</p>

<p>ITEM: The <ent type='PERSON'>Boggs</ent> law firm also boasts partner <ent type='PERSON'>Ron Brown</ent>,
chair of <ent type='ORG'>the Democratic Party</ent>. Some pundits have suggested
that since <ent type='PERSON'>Brown</ent> in an <ent type='NORP'>African</ent>-<ent type='GPE'>America</ent>n, the <ent type='PERSON'>Clinton</ent>-<ent type='PERSON'>Gore</ent>
ticket has less need of <ent type='PERSON'>Jesse Jackson</ent> to mobilize the
black vote in November. But <ent type='PERSON'>Ron Brown</ent> is far more familiar
with corporate boardrooms and government corridors than
grass-roots organizing. His clients have included an
array of U.S. and foreign business interests, as well as
the regime of <ent type='NORP'>Haitian</ent> dictator <ent type='PERSON'>Jean Claude Duvalier</ent>.</p>

<p> When Jerry <ent type='PERSON'>Brown</ent> spent his campaign denouncing
"<ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> sleaze,'' he was referring to these kinds of
cozy corporate-government relations.
But mainstream media have demonstrated far less animus
toward corporate influence than toward Jerry <ent type='PERSON'>Brown</ent>, who
was routinely described by journalists covering the
convention as "disruptive,'' "egotistical'' and a
"party pooper.''
Aided by this media slant, corporate insiders are
laughing all the way to the bank.</p>

<div>*******************************************</div>

<p>This is the real problem with our "democracy" - the voters have
very little influence over the choices. Those decisions have
already been made for us. We should feel glad about it, now
we don't have to make the difficult decisions...</p>

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